ESL Teacher Reflection #5

Even though I wasn’t able to attend the technology workshop with Betsy Lavolette, I did have some time to look at the websites on the handout that she provided.  I thought some of her technologies were really interesting and something that could be incorporated into a regular or ESL classroom to help students learn and get them more engaged.  I really love the idea of integrating technology into all classrooms, and I think that it provides so many learning opportunities that can strengthen any lesson.  Right now, I am taking an online class that is helping me develop an online classroom website, while also getting me to explore and analyze several different technologies available for the classroom, whether they be products or online programs.  I have learned a LOT about technology and ever since the beginning of the semester, my interest in educational technology has been growing.

Just recently in my placement in a kindergarten class, I saw that my mentor teacher was using a website called Starfall.  The students were playing with it during one of their literacy center rotations and I was very interested in it.  The site includes a ton of literacy resources for learning letters, letter sounds, and words, and also is a great way to practice reading.  It is very interactive and one of the activities has the students click on letters to hear their sounds, and then sort capital and lowercase letters.  Other activities deal with reading certain words or certain sound-letter combinations.  There are also a lot of great print outs for teachers so that students can practice writing and spelling letters and words.  The site also has some fun games for students to practice certain grammar aspects like adjectives and action verbs.  The website also includes a new kindergarten curriculum that teachers can look through and get ideas for how to structure their teaching throughout the year.  There are tons and tons of fun things to do on this website and I think all students would enjoy it.  Just by watching a few of the students in my placement I could tell that they were very excited about it and couldn’t wait until it was their turn to play.

I think websites like this would be perfect for ELL students because they can go at their own pace through things and could even practice literacy concepts at home.  It is a good resource for students who may be struggling or are behind, or even learning English as a second language and this is a less distracting way to let them do an activity that is different than what the rest of the class is doing.  Websites like this are also great to use if you have a Smartboard in the classroom and then you could teach lessons to the whole class while allowing students to interact and take part in the clicking and moving of items.  Overall, I think using technology in the classroom provides a much wider range of activities that will help get students engaged and keep them interested so they are learning as much as possible.  Not only is it fun for the students, but also fun for the teacher as well!